Missouri Medical Center To Issue Staff Panic Buttons Following Uptick In Attacks By Patients

Patient assaults on health care workers at a Branson hospital have tripled over the last year.

A Missouri medical center is giving its staff members panic buttons due to a troubling increase in attacks by patients during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Assaults on staff by patients have tripled in the past year at Cox Medical Center in Branson, Missouri, according to a release from the hospital earlier this month. More than 120 assaults on staff members occurred last year.

“The biggest part of being in health care now is not only being able to give excellent care to your patient you’ve been assigned and to make them feel safe, but to also feel safe yourself as their primary caregiver,” the hospital’s patient safety facilitator, Angie Smith, said in a statement on Facebook.